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Friday, March 30
Williams says he'll fulfill his promise
By Adrian Wojnarowski
Special to ESPN.com
MINNEAPOLIS -- Standing under the basket in the Jersey Meadowlands,
nearing his high school graduation, Jason Williams admired the Duke Blue
Devils running layup lines in a public practice session for the NCAA East
Regionals. This was the end of the innocence for college basketball's most
pristine program, the year the rat race of early entry caught the Blue
Devils and delivered Elton Brand, Corey Maggette and William Avery to the
NBA.
|  | | Williams has been the best player in the tournament, averaging nearly 29 points per game. |
Watching it all was Williams, the most talented point guard coach Mike Krzyzewski had ever recruited to Duke. He absorbed the
atmosphere and spit out something absolutely absurd for a star his stature.
"I'll stay four years," Williams said. "Even if I could go early,
I'll want to stay."
Williams made a promise that sounded so naive under the changing
climate of college basketball: He wanted to chase Bobby Hurley's legacy,
promising to be a four-year Duke point guard with a trophy case of clipped
nets and a scrapbook of sweet college memories.
"To me, the pro game just seems like it's guys playing for the
money," Williams said that day. "But you come here, and you can feel the
energy, the excitement. All I want to do is play college basketball."
Two years later, Williams has the Duke Blue Devils in the Final
Four. He's scoring 28 points a game in the NCAA Tournament. He's the best
player in college basketball. The old Duke and NBA guard, Johnny Dawkins, a
Blue Devils assistant now, was asked whom Williams most reminds him.
"Isiah Thomas," Dawkins responded without a flinch.
Williams could be the No. 1 pick in the June draft, unless someone
falls for the fool's gold of the 7-foot-6 Yao Ming, Shawn Bradley with a
booster seat.
When has a guard with these gifts passed through the college game,
developing so much, so fast since, well, Isiah bringing his Indiana Hoosiers
to the NCAA Championship 20 years ago this week. Thomas was picked No. 2 in
the draft to Mark Aguire, but do it over, and guess where Thomas goes? No
doubt, No. 1.
Yes, Williams could go No. 1 as a sophomore, but he swears the NBA
won't get its shot to take him now. He isn't leaving Duke. Win a national
championship, or lose it, he's going to be a junior in the fall listening to
the crackle of leaves under foot on campus.
"I have a lot more growing up to do," Williams said. "I think
there's so much more to the game than just putting the ball in the basket.
Just learning and being a leader. Just being around Coach (Krzyzewski).
There's nothing more that can make you a better player than being around the
best coach in the country.
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I think there's so much more to the game than just putting the ball in the basket. Just learning and being a leader. Just being around Coach (Krzyzewski). There's nothing more that can make you a better player than being around the best coach in the country. ” |
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— Jason Williams |
"And education is something that's important to me. I know
basketball won't be around forever."
Who thinks this way, anymore? Who still talks of staying to win NCAA
championships, learning lessons on the practice floor and earning his
degree? He's a rare kid. They don't come too often in college basketball, so
perhaps given the times it's historic Williams shares the floor with Blue
Devils senior Shane Battier.
"I hope I showed Jason that if he sticks around and pays his dues
good things will happen," Battier said. "There's so much emphasized on
instant gratification. I hope I can show not just Jason, but all younger
players that the NBA will be there and you should enjoy your college time."
It's so easy to forget that Tim Duncan passed as a sophomore and
junior on leaving for the NBA as the No. 1 pick. College basketball needs
Williams to make this statement. It needs him to stay. The rest of America's
players, ones with far less talent, should understand it's an option to stay
in school. It isn't always the solution, isn't always the right choice, but
it's a legitimate option. These days, they think there's something wrong
with a kid reaching his senior year of college. If he's still there, he
can't that good, right?
"I cherish every moment that I have with this program, with my
coach," Williams said. "It means so much to be part of a great tradition, a
great team...I don't want to leave."
So, the next Isiah Thomas made it to the Final Four, to the brink of
cutting down those nets in the Metrodome and he's determined to start a
collection of them. This isn't the end for Jason Williams with the Duke Blue
Devils -- it's just the beginning of a run to make proud the legacy of a
four-year point guard named Bobby Hurley.
Adrian Wojnarowski is a columnist for The Record (Bergen County, N.J.) and a regular
contributor to ESPN.com.
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